Kleckley's Sweet Watermelon

85 to 100 days — The skin is too thin for shipping so you will not likely find this variety in your local supermarket. Excellent for home gardens. The fruit is oblong, dark green in color, and up to forty pounds in weight. Very sweet, dark red flesh with a stringless heart and large, white seeds.

Bred and developed by William Alexander (W. A.) Kleckley of Sumpter County,^[4] Georgia in the late 1880s, it is reportedly a cross between 'Boss' and 'Arkansas Traveler'. It was introduced as early as 1894^[5] and by 1897, just about every seed company was offering it in their catalogs.

In about 1900, W. A. Kleckley moved his family to Grapeland, Houston County, Texas where he was able to establish a seed farm and continued as a supplier to W. Atlee Burpee.^[1] After his death in 1921, his son Marvin Elmo Kleckley carried on the melon work for some time, but after his service in the Pacific during WW-II, he settled into a career as a retail merchant.^[3] Each packet contains two grams, which is approximately 20 seeds.